¹⁶ and He would not permit anyone to carry ^[a]merchandise or household wares through the temple [grounds, using the temple area irreverently as a shortcut]. ¹⁷ He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den.”^{(A) 18} The chief priests and the scribes heard this and began searching for a way to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, since the entire crowd was struck with astonishment at His teaching.